Saint Anne

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Icon nb 73

Size : 32 x 24 cm.

Lime board

Gilded halo. Egg tempera.

Saint Anne, which name in Hebrew signifies "gracious," lived at Nazareth, a town of Lower Galilee, a short distance from Mount Carmel. According to the opinion of Saint Augustine, she was of the priestly tribe. She married a just man, named Joachim, of the tribe of Juda, and of the race of David by Nathan.
Anne, having arrived at an advanced age without children, could not, like the other women of Israel, cherish a hope that the Messiah would spring from her blood; but at the moment when this great blessing seemed to escape her, the all-powerful Wisdom ordained quite the contrary. The laws of nature are reversed before the Lord's designs: Anne, sterile for twenty years, conceives miraculously, and gives birth to her who was to bring forth the Son of God, the desired of nations, the divine Redeemer of the human race. >>>read more...